A Vision of a Robotic Rose
by SsPrfan819-Raptor Ninja
Summary: Another installment to the "Vision of a Rose" series, set 12 years after West Coast disbanded. Rosalina and Vision have had a well-deserved long break. They've seen their kids grow up and go to college. But when Avengers AI is a go, they will be put to their biggest test. Rose will not only have to face external battles, but internal as well. Will this be enough to break her?
1. Agent File

Author's Note: If you haven't already, read A Vision of a Rose and A Vision of a West Coast Rose. This is the third book in this series!

Date Updated: September 28th, 2030

Name: Agent Rosalina "Rose" Barton

Codename: Magemancer

Age: 38

Sex: Female

Description: 5'4'', 135 pounds, autumn red hair, emerald green eyes, part android

Place of Birth: Waverly, Iowa

Education: MAT, BA in English, and AA from Lake Forest College,

Found: Upstate New York

Date Found: June 14th, 2015

Family: Parents: Gregory "Greg" and Carma Barton, H.Y.D.R.A. One older brother, current agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Clinton "Clint" Francis Barton. One younger brother: Alexander "Alex" Barton, H.Y.D.R.A. Husband: Vision. Two children: Lucas and Lucy Barton Vision

Relationship Status: Married: Vision

Powers: Magic-related, shapeshifter, control time, super strength

Weapons: Knife, gun, bow and arrow, fan

Expertise: Stealth, thievery, weaponless combat, archery

Status: Stable

Team: Avengers Second Team (October 25th, 2015-January 10th, 2017), West Coast Avengers (June 14th, 2017-October 20th, 2018), Avengers AI (October 3rd, 2030-present)


	2. Blind Sight

Chapter 1 Blind Sight

"Are you missing us yet?" Lucas asked Vision and I as we Skyped him and Lucy one evening after they were done with their classes and they were in their room that they requested to share. "It's a month since move-in."

"It certainly is quiet without you here," Vision remarked.

"Have you guys met with with hockey teams yet?" I replied.

"Yea, there's tryouts during fall break," Lucy said.

"Are you nervous about them?" Vision said.

The brother and sister shook their heads.

"No, but only because this isn't our first tryout by any means," Lucy said.

"That's good, but remember, a little bit of nerves is good," I said.

"We know," Lucas said. He looked at his watch. "We need to head to dinner. Don't know about Luce but I'm starving."

"You're _always_ hungry," Lucy pointed out with a laugh.

"Go enjoy the food," Vision said, chuckling.

"If Ruben still works there, definitely get whatever he's making," I said. "He's one of the best cooks there. That or pasta line."

"We will," Lucas said.

We said our goodbyes and ended the call.

We've had twelve years of not being called in. Avengers AI wasn't made yet, but we had a feeling that we would need to gather soon.

Vision frowned as he saw me get up and run right into the coffee table not for the first time. "Rose, are you _sure_ you're alright?" he asked as he got to his feet and placed a hand on my back as I rubbed my shin. "That's the fifth time this week you've ran into the coffee table. It's like you can't see."

"Yea, yea, fine," I said, trying to brush that off. "Just a bit clumsy."

"You're _never_ clumsy," Vision pointed out. "You're one of the most graceful people I know. You've been wearing your glasses all the time now But they don't seem to be helping."

"I just forget to take them off," I said as I took off my glasses but had to put them back on as everything instantly looked blurry.

"If something's wrong, you can tell me," Vision said as he took my hands in his. "You know that, right?"

I nodded. "I know," I said. "Everything's fine. I promise. If there was something wrong, I'd tell you."

"Alright," Vision said. "I love you."

"I love you, Vision," I said.

He gave me a kiss and then hugged me.

I let out a silent sigh as I returned his hug, glad to be in his arms.

Twelve years it had been since we came back from West Coast. We loved the time we had off: we were able to see our kids grow up. We were able to be actual parents, from going to their hockey games to Vision being the intimidating father when Lucy had her first date and me having to reassure the boy that he was just being overprotective, but also include that if he hurt her, then we wouldn't be too nice, much to her annoyance. We got them through their rough points in life and when we thought they needed it, I helped them better control their powers.

They both expressed huge interest in joining the Avengers the summer before they started college, and while we were both hesitant, we did have to admit that they reminded us a lot of Wanda and Pietro, who were settled down across town, Pietro finding a woman and Wanda set to marry Stephen in the coming months, asking me to be her maid of honor. After Vision, Lucas, Lucy, and I all sat down and had a very long and serious talk, we put them on the reserve list for the Avengers so that for whatever reason someone couldn't fight, they would be subbed in. I also had taken a lot of time to help Nathan once he got old enough, and when he said that he wanted to fight, I said that he would have to talk to his parents about that, they I had no say in whether he could do that or not. Laura and Clint had a long discussion, as well, but in the end, Clint also put him down as a sub.

Along with that, I had been able to complete a few degrees, which I was really proud about, and all the Avengers came to my graduation to celebrate with me. I had set a huge example for Lucas and Lucy, who had always expressed interest about going to college, even if Lucas was high on the list of prospects for the NHL and Lucy wanted to pursue the life of a dancer and actress. When they were looking for colleges, they asked me about Lake Forest College, and while I wasn't trying to be biased when I told them about it, I couldn't help but beam when they told Vision and I that they both applied early decision and got accepted.

Clint had told me on multiple occasions that being a parent was extremely hard, but I, honestly, didn't see what was so bad about that. We never had problems with them breaking rules or had to get on them about their grades. In fact, there were times when we had to encourage them to actually go out and do stuff instead of telling them that they couldn't go do something they really wanted to do. Most of the time, we went out to New York Ranger games, something we all really liked to do.

When we had to take them to Lake Forest for Freshman Orientation, we asked them how they wanted to go. When they suggested a road trip, we packed the van with everything and made it into a final vacation for them before they would have a lot of schoolwork. Since Vision and I got back, we had to get used to how quiet the house was. Every week they could Skype and we would talk for a bit, but it was something we were still adjusting to.

After a few moments, Vision let me go. "Shall we dance?" he asked as he went to the stereo, turning it on, some slow music playing.

I smiled as the two of us danced around the room, the two of us staring at each other as we went.

Vision led me into a spin but the rug caught my foot, something that normally happened, and I would've fallen had he not scooped me up into his arms, the two of us laughing.

"I love your laugh," Vision remarked as he brushed a strand of hair from my face. "It sounds magical and it always causes me to smile."

"Thanks, but can you put me back on my feet?" I replied, chuckling. "I'm kinda dangling here."

"I was going to keep you this way until I went to bed," he said teasingly. "You don't like that idea?"

"Not really, because that makes it hard for me to kiss you," I said.

Vision sighed. "Alright, if you say so," he said with a smirk. He brought me back to my feet but immediately pulled me into a kiss.

After about a minute, we broke the kiss and continued to slow dance, our foreheads touching and gazing into each other's eyes.

We didn't realize the time until the grandfather clock in the corner of the room chimed it was eleven, causing us to jump and then laugh it off.

"Two of the strongest Avengers on the face of the planet, startled by a measly clock," I remarked.

"Come on, let's get some rest," Vision chuckled. "Tomorrow evening we have the scifi marathon to watch and we're also meeting with some potential Avenger recruits in the afternoon."

I nodded as the two of us went to our room and got ready for bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

XXX

The next morning when we woke up, I almost had a panic attack when I didn't find my glasses where I had put them when I went to sleep.

I heard Vision already awake and in the bathroom taking a shower. I had to find them before he came out and saw me scrambling for them, which would be a huge clue as to something being wrong with me.

"Ok, think Rose, what animal would be best to track?" I whispered as I sat up, not daring myself to touch the ground yet in case my glasses had fallen to the ground. "Let's try a Basset Hound."

I turned into the breed of dog and jumped as far away from the bed I could before sniffing around on the ground, determined to believe that they had fallen in the night somehow.

I searched all around the room, even under the bed, but I couldn't find them. I turned back to normal and felt around my nightstand.

Suddenly relief went through me as I felt them farther back than usual, quickly putting them on as I heard the water turn off and went to lay out my clothes for the day.

"Morning Rose," Vision said as he walked into the room, giving me a kiss before he started to get dressed. "Sleep well?"

"Yea, did you?" I replied as I got ready for my shower, hoping that he didn't notice how stressed I looked at the moment due to me thinking that I lost my glasses, thus leaving me basically blind.

"I did," Vision answered. He paused. "You appear stressed. Are you alright?"

I mentally cursed, forgetting that he could read people easily. "Yea," I said. "Just that Cap has high hopes about these prospects. Don't want to let him down, you know?"

"I mean I guess that could make one stressful," Vision said. "But you're never the one to stress about this stuff."

"I'm jumping in the shower," I said quickly, giving him another kiss before I stepped into the bathroom.

Vision frowned as I closed the door. "Strange," he mumbled. "This is really concerning me."

XXX

Talking with the now Avengers-in-training was a piece of cake aside from me having to sign off on their forms and Vision and I were back home to get ready for the marathon.

I knew we had a step down from the hallway to the living room but I misjudged just how many steps I took, instead not taking a step in time and falling to the ground, my glasses flying off of me and landing a few feet ahead of me, the first time I've actually fallen due to not actually being able to see.

"Rose!" Vision exclaimed as he came forward and kneeled next to me, offering me his hand. "What was that?!"

"I forgot about that step," I muttered lamely, reaching for his hand but missing it the first time because of how blurry everything was, his red skin blending in with the red color we had the couch. I got it the second time and he helped me to my feet.

"Are you hurt?" Vision said as he grabbed my glasses and put them on me.

I nodded. "No, no," I said. "I'm not hurt."

"Are you _sure_?" Vision replied, stressing it to mean more that just physical pain.

"Yes, I'm sure," I said. "You know how I am after interviews. Never really in the right mind for a little bit."

Vision bit his lip, really beginning to worry about me. "Rose, I _highly_ suggest you talk to Tony," he said. "I'm really worried about you right now."

"It's nothing," I said. "Just an off week, you know? Everyone gets them every once in awhile. Come on, it's almost time for the marathon. We don't wanna miss the first episode. That's the most important one."

"Ok. I'm going to make us some tea and when we can settle down for the night to watch the marathon together," Vision said after a long pause as he walked to the kitchen.

"Alright," I said as I walked to the couch and sat down in my spot, ignoring how sore my knees felt at the moment from the hard impact with the wood floors.

Vision returned and sat down next to me, handing me a cup of tea and then putting an arm around me as I turned the TV on to the marathon.

The two of us were content while we sat there through the night, drinking our tea as we watched the TV.

When the sun started to rise, we heard a sound that was distinctly from Tony's Iron Man suit landing and we looked at each other before getting to our feet and rushing outside.

"Tony?" I asked as he walked to us, lifting his mask up.

"What's going on?" Vision added.

"The base is down," Tony said. "I couldn't connect to your communicators. AI is starting up. _Now_. You two have to pack your stuff and get to the base for the physical exams."

Vision and I nodded as we rushed inside and to our room, grabbing our bags and quickly putting clothes into them, knowing that right now we just needed the necessities and could come back to get anything like pictures after the initial action died down.

"It's been twelve years," Vision remarked as he looked at his uniform before putting it on. "Our uniforms were just collecting dust during that time."

I nodded as I put on my uniform, struggling to zip up the front of my jacket because I couldn't see well.

Vision closed his bag and looked up at me. He started to put the pieces together. "You can't see, can you?" he asked.

I bit my lip as I shook my head. "Not well," I whispered. "The glasses aren't helping. It wasn't noticeable at first, which is why I didn't say anything. But in the recent year it's gotten worse. I won't be able to pass the physical exam. I won't be able to join you in battle, Vision. You or the rest of AI."

"Tony can help you," Vision said as he walked around the bed to me, zipping my jacket up for me and securing my cape. "He's not going to leave you hanging. He's gonna make sure that you can fight like you have. Are you done packing?"

"Yea, I just need to get my combat boots on," I said. Realizing they were lace up, I added, "If you could help me put them on, that is."

"I can," Vision said as he grabbed them from the closet and making me sit down on the bed so that he could quickly put them on and tie them.

When he finished, we grabbed our bags and met Tony in the living room where he was waiting for us.

"Took you long enough," he said. "Come on, we're going to Avengers Tower. JARVIS already checked and it's up and running. I can contact the others who will be in AI and also work on getting the base up again. Avengers base will be your place of operation."

We both nodded as the three of us went outside and flew into the air after locking the house up.

As we flew, I found it more and more difficult to be able to see, the light from sunrise doing nothing to be able to help me.

Because of how much I was struggling, I was slowing down.

Vision noticed I was starting to fall behind and reached out to grab my hand to keep me with him without Tony noticing.

When we got to Avengers Tower, Tony immediately noticed how I stumbled upon landing, since I couldn't see the ground well. "Are you hurt?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm not hurt," I replied. Feeling Vision watching me, I added, "It's my eyesight. It's been getting worse."

"How long?" Tony questioned. "Why didn't you contact me?"

"Ever since they got better after having the bleach thrown into them," I said. "But it's only started to get really bad in the previous year. I thought it was just something that has to do with development and that maybe one of your upgrades on me would correct the problem, but that hasn't been the case."

"I can't chastise you right now because I need to get you worked on," Tony said. "Vision, start to contact the others. Their names on in the AI folder. Tell them it's urgent and they must report here as soon as possible for their exams. Contact Hank last. The old man needs to get some rest." He guided me to his lab without a reply from Vision, knowing that he had his work cut out for him. "Rose, I'm going to active your self-repairs. Same deal as usual."

I nodded as he had me lay down on the table and removed my glasses, everything becoming blurry. I closed my eyes to keep from getting a headache.

"I'll see you when you wake up," Tony said before injecting me.

There was a flash of pain that overwhelmed me and everything went black.


	3. Physical Exams

Chapter 2 Physical Exams

When I woke up, I immediately noticed how my eyesight had changed. I was now able to see so much more than before. It was like someone put a really fine lens over my eyes, making them better than how they were before my eyesight was damaged.

I sat up and looked around, trying to adjust to this new sight, noticing details I never saw before despite being in this room more times than I could count.

"Rose, how are you doing?" Tony asked as he walked into the room.

"Whatever you did, Tony, has made a definite improvement in my vision," I said as I looked at him, being able to see the single threads that comprised of his shirt. "What was the procedure?"

"I had to replace the nerves in your eyes with something that had the same way of working but didn't damage your eye," Tony said. "Luckily, I had made something after we came back from the college all those years ago. I just had to get the materials, which had came in a recent arrival to the lab."

"What did you use? Wires?" I asked as I swung my legs over the edge of the table and got to my feet, surprised when I felt no waves of dizziness.

"Very fine ones," Tony confirmed.

I nodded. "So when am I doing my physical exam?" I said. "In an hour?"

"On October 3rd," Tony said.

"That's almost a week, Tony!" I exclaimed. "I've gotta help AI!"

"AI will be fine with just Vision leading them," Tony responded. "You have to recover. You need to get use to the new eyesight, learn how to train with it. This isn't like hurting an arm or leg and you can get by with not using it. I suspect by the 3rd, you'll be ready to jump into action. The others have already passed their exams and are preparing to head to the base"

I sighed. "Fine," I said. "Where's Vision? I want to see him for a few minutes before he goes to the base."

"Lounge," Tony said. "You can meet your teammates there, as well. They're leaving in thirty minutes."

"Thanks," I said as I walked out of the room and to the lounge, where Vision, Hank, and the other three were. I recognized Alexis from when we were sent forward in time but I didn't know about the other man and woman that were there.

Vision looked over as I entered the room and immediately got to his feet, walking to me and hugging me. "Rose, you're awake," he said. "I was beginning to worry that something didn't turn out right despite Tony saying it was a success."

"I'm alright, Vision," I said as I returned his hug. "I'm out until October 3rd but after that, I'll be joining you."

"Good," Vision said. "We'll be waiting for when you join us. Come meet the others so that you know who you'll be leading when you make it to the base."

Vision and I walked to where the others were.

"Hello Rosalina Barton, I am Monica," the woman said as she extended her hand to me. "Would you prefer to be called by another name?"

"Hello Monica," I said as I shook her hand. "You can call me 'Rose'. I'd prefer it that way."

"Thank you, Rose," Monica said. "I cannot wait to be in battle together."

"The name's Victor," the man said as he was next to shake my hand. "Pretty awesome to be here. Can't wait to have you and Vision lead us into battle."

"Thanks Victor," I said.

"Vision has informed me that we met in the future," Alexis said as she stepped up to me. "So I would introduce myself, but you already know me."

"Yea it was really coincidental that we met you, Alexis," I said. "But still nice, all the same."

"Rose, hadn't seen you since that last reunion with West Coast," Hank said as I turned to him and he gave me a hug. "How've you been?"

"I've been doing well, Hank," I said. "Are you fighting with us? Don't take this the wrong way, but you have seen better years."

"I'm just staying at the base for mechanical issues," Hank said. "Tony requested it and I agreed. If you need the help of my Pym Particles, then I can definitely get Scott and Hope to come give a hand."

I nodded. "Well your help is greatly appreciated no matter what," I said.

We all took our seats again, me taking my normal spot next to Vision, and we talked for a little bit before JARVIS said that the jet was ready to take them to Avengers base.

When they was said, everyone got up and I said my goodbyes to everyone as they filed out of the room, Vision being the last one.

"We'll see you in a few days," Vision said before kissing me.

"Be careful," I replied when he pulled away. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm benched."

"I won't," Vision said. He turned and walked out after the others.

I sighed as he left the room and walked to where Tony was in the conference room, checking and double checking connections. "Is there _anything_ I can do so that I'm not bored to death in these five days before I can join the others?" I asked as I sat in a chair behind him.

"Why not go see if Wanda needs help with her wedding?" Tony replied. "And if she doesn't need help, go spend some time with Clint and his family at the farm. As long as you aren't fighting or training, then we're good."

"Alright, no training, no fighting," I said as I got back to my feet and walked out of the room, taking my phone out of my pocket. I went to Wanda's number and called her.

"Hey Rose, what's up?" Wanda asked when she answered the phone.

"Nothing much, just wondering if you needed help with the wedding right now," I said. "Long story, but Vision's starting AI and I'm currently sidelined until the third."

"Tell you what: I'm just about to head out to pick out decorations and order the tables and chairs," Wanda said. "I'll text you the address and we can meet there and do some stuff after everything's picked out. Stephen's gone all day today."

I smiled. "Alright, sounds great," I said.

XXX

"Are you ready?" Tony asked me as I walked into the simulator.

"I've been ready," I replied as I turned to face him.

"Alright, setting the physical examination, time set for one hour," Tony said. "You know the drill: go through the courses set up as fast as you can but also as accurately as you can. The one hour is-"

"Only a deadline," I said as I bounced on the balls of my feet, wanting to get started, used to hearing this so many times already, especially since I had gone with Tony when he did the exams for all the AI Avengers. "I don't have to stretch it out the entire hour. If for whatever reason I need to stop, just say 'Simulation stop' and it will stop. The faster I complete the course, the more points I will be awarded. I know the drill, Tony. Let's do this."

"Beginning in five, four, three, two, one," Tony said as he pressed a button on the control pad.

The room around me turned into an open field with large building with five stories that I had to get into.

"Speed and agility testing begins now," a female robotic voice said.

I bolted forward onto the course, the first portion being just speed to see how fast I can go and the second part focusing on how well I can move around while going as fast as I could go. This part had always been the easiest part for me, since this was putting in my skills as a thief and not wanting to trip any security measures.

"Time: eight point nine fives seconds," the robotic voice said. "New personal record. Extra points granted."

I allowed a small smile cross my face for a split second before I started on the agility portion, stopping behind a wall, taking a moment to recollect my thoughts.

I would have to make my way around the course while trying to evade attacks. Each hit would be a deduction of points, small at first but growing more each time.

I broke cover, silently darting into the shadows nearby. It allowed me to see my environment I was working with.

The inside was spacious and empty aside from overturned chairs and tables but I could feel that someone was watching the area. Across from where I was stood a staircase going up to the higher floors.

My objective was clear: get to the top as quickly as possible. That would be where the combat portion of the exam would come in.

Before I could make a break for the stairwell, I heard footsteps coming down it.

I stayed in the shadows as two people walked down, starting to patrol around the room.

When one of the people came right in front of where I was, I quickly jumped out and slammed my elbow into his head, knocking him out.

The other person turned to me as he fell and opened fired at me but I pulled my cape in front of me as a shield.

As soon as he stopped shooting, I sent a plasma ball at him that struck him in the chest, throwing him back and knocking him out.

"What was that?" a man asked from the floor above.

I heard more footsteps and quickly turned into a bird, flying up to the ceiling and turning back to normal on a support beam, watching from below.

Five men came down the stairs, their guns ready to shoot. A couple of them when to check their comrades to see how they were doing.

I waited until they were all facing outside to jump down and blasted a couple with plasma balls before kicking a third who charged at me in the chest.

The other two tried to shoot at me but I dove behind an overturned table and shoved it at them.

Then both stumbled back and I jumped over the table, punching one of them in the side of his head and kicking the other one in the face.

I flew up the flight of stairs and paused before entering the next room, surveying what I saw.

This floor appeared empty but I wasn't going to take any chances.

I turned into a fly and carefully flew across the room.

Still not wanting to risk it, I stayed as a fly as I went up to the next floor, halfway to the top.

There was a single man there, this one more heavily armed than the others so far.

I could tell that if I wanted to take him out, it would take a little bit more work.

I flew around him and turned back to normal, knocking him forward with a plasma ball.

He stumbled forward and turned to me, growling. He tried to swing at me with a roundhouse punch but I blocked it and stepped in close, doing a palm-heel strike to his nose and then knife-hand strike to the pressure point in his neck, remembering what T'Challa had told me about how to bring an enemy down, no matter the size or strength.

He faltered but he suddenly tackled me to the ground, drawing a knife and holding it on my neck.

I reached for my belt and grabbed my knife, stabbing it into his leg.

He yelped and I threw him off of me, drawing my gun and shooting two rounds at him, one hitting his leg and the other his chest.

He grabbed his leg, the bullet to his chest doing nothing, letting me know that he's wearing a bulletproof vest.

I jumped to my feet and kicked him in the face with all my strength, knocking him out.

I grabbed my knife before darting up the second to last flight of stairs.

"Time," I whispered, wanting to know how much time I have left.

"Forty minutes remaining," the voice said.

"Really? I thought I was taking longer," I mumbled as I went into the shadows when I reached the top of the stairs.

There were two of the guys from the floor below.

" _Ok Rose, this one will take a bit more effort than the floor below, especially since I'll be taking part in a one-on-two_ ," I thought as I looked at my surroundings, seeing what I could use to help me.

I picked up on a weak support beam above one of the guys that would bring down a good portion of the floor onto him.

Silently, I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and notched it on my bowstring. Slowly, I pulled the bowstring pack as I aimed for the weak part of the beam. I took a slow, deep breath, double-checking my aim to make sure I make my mark.

Then I released the arrow and it flew to the beam, getting stuck but taking away enough support so that it collapsed onto one of the men, him trying to lift it up but the weight being too much.

When the other jumped away, surprised, and I notched another arrow, this one an explosive arrow, shooting it at the man that wasn't down on the ground.

It struck him in the chest, the bullet proof vest stopping it from going in, but the explosion threw him back, through a support column and crashing through one of the windows.

" _Well that certainly didn't go as expected_ ," I thought as I darted across the room and up the stairs on the other side remaining in the shadows.

When I saw the person at the top, his back turned as he stood at the computers, I paused for a moment. Of course, I should've expected Tony to throw a curveball like this: the best way to see me in action and to judge my abilities is to get me off my game.

I stepped out of the shadows and said, "I will give you one chance: Alexander Barton, Master of Dreams, Mageeye, and Hawkmancer, by order of SHIELD and the Avengers, stand down."

Alex turned to me and raised his hand, part of the ceiling over me coming down.

I jumped forward and pulled out my gun, getting to a knee and taking two shots at him.

Alex formed a shield and charged at me, kicking at me.

I grabbed his foot as I got to my feet, pulling it out from under him to cause him to lose balance.

As he fell, he wrapped a hand around my ankle and pulled it out from under me, causing me to fall.

The moment I hit the ground, I swung a leg to him, my knee hitting his head. I pushed myself back and jumped to my feet, low to the ground and ready to pounce like a cat. "Wrong answer," I replied, grabbing a throwing knife and tossing it at him with all my might.

He moved out of the way and grabbed the hilt as it came by him, quickly changing his grip so that he was holding it the right way.

He charged at me but I jumped out of the way, drawing a second throwing knife and aiming it at his side as he came at me.

It struck him and he collapsed, slowly pulling it out. He looked surprised as he looked up at me.

"Told you wrong answer," I remarked before doing a snap kick at his temple, knocking him out.

The simulation ended as he fell.

"The physical examination test is now over," the voice said.

"Great job, Rose," Tony said. "This is your highest score yet with the physical examination."

"Thanks, Tony," I said. "Will there be a need for the endurance test, then?"

"Not this time, no," Tony said. "You've been living for awhile with pretty bad eyesight. I think that's enough."

I nodded, letting out a sigh of relief: I never liked that portion of the test. I never wanted anyone but the examiner to watch me go through it, especially since it triggered bad memories for me that left me a terrible mess afterwards. "So I'm done then?" I asked.

"Yep, come out here and I'll show you your scores compared with your teammates," Tony said. "I'll be sending these scores out to Avengers Base, as well, for them to see it."

I walked out to where Tony was as he brought up my scores on the screen.

"For the endurance test, I inputted a manual score, and it is higher than the rest of your team, including Vision," Tony said.

"Really? Vision usually has the highest scores when it comes to the endurance test, and it's been steadily growing since he joined the team," I said.

"I know," Tony said. "But you proved better than him this time. For the physical examination, here's where you rank among the others."

I frowned as I saw the numbers. "I'm dead last," I said, something I was definitely not used to.

"Yes, but considering that you're not the exact same make as the others, them being androids from the beginning and you being made into an android, those are still pretty good numbers," Tony said. "Plus, it _is_ a new personal record, which is saying something."

I only nodded, still feeling a bit disappointed in myself. If I wasn't one of the strongest ones, then how could I be a good leader?

"Vision is the highest in the physical examination," Tony continued. "He has a huge lead in front of Alexis, and then it's Victor, and finally Monica." He continued to explain the different numbers but I didn't pay much attention, my mind spinning with my own exam score compared to the others.

"...When you average everything out, the scores are Vision, Victor, you, Alexis, and then Monica," Tony finished, focusing in at the very end, missing the entire middle. "Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing," I said. I knew the numbers enough to be able to go over it on my own and understand everything, anyways.

"Alright," Tony said. He grabbed my file next to him and opened it. "Then Mrs. Rosalina Barton, I am signing off your exam and I believe you're capable of taking this to the base, correct?" He closed the file and offered it to me.

"Of course I can," I replied, taking it in my hand. "I just need to get my stuff ready and I'll be heading over there. Is it safe to assume that the scores have already been sent to the base?"

"They have," Tony said. "Now get to your team, Avenger AI."


	4. Arrival

Chapter 3 Arrival

I touched down in the hanger.

"Mrs. Barton, welcome back," JARVIS said.

"Thanks," I said as I walked into the hallway outside the hanger. "Where are the others?"

"Everyone is currently on break," JARVIS reported. "Vision is in the conference room with Mr. Pym, going over a schedule for upgrades. Would you like to inform him of your arrival?"

"No," I said. "I want to surprise him." I looked at the file as I pulled it out of my bag, the cover stamped with the SHIELD logo and three different Avenger logos: the original one, the one for West Coast, and now the one for Avengers AI. There was a blue paperclip in the top left-hand corner that had a picture of me on the inside. All the papers were neatly inside, the folder growing thicker the more time I spent being a part of the team. I remembered seeing my file for the first time, not even a stamp on it, a single paper in along with my picture that had the very basic information on it. Even now, the basic information has changed so much.

I took a deep breath and started walking to the conference room. It felt different walking around and not seeing or hearing the usual noises: Tony or Bruce working in their labs, Clint and Pietro's voices as they played one of Clint's games, combat in the training room as some of the Avengers trained, Pietro's teasing as he ran by you saying that you were too slow, Sam and Rhodey joking around in the lounge, or the TV on in the lounge playing a movie or TV show. It felt awfully quiet and lonely.

As I approached the conference room, I heard Vision's and Hank's voices, discussing plans, plans I knew I would also have a say in.

I knocked on the door before stepping inside, Hank and Vision both turning to me.

"Rose," Vision said as he walked to me and hugged me. "I got the exam results from Tony a few hours ago and was expecting your arrival. Good job."

I returned the hug and when I pulled away, I handed him the file. "Tony wanted me to deliver this to you," I said. "You can confirm it but he's signed off on it."

Vision nodded as he took it and skimmed through it. "What was your physical exam?" he asked after closing it and placing it in a storage unit with the rest of the files. "You did much better than your last exam."

"I had to make my way up to the top of a building and fight Alexander," I said. "There were sentries on every floor."

"I can see where you got the time bonus, then," Vision said. "You took less than half the time. The next fastest time was myself with a twenty-five minute time bonus."

"That's a new high for you," I observed.

"And what was your endurance test?" Vision said. "You've got the best score out of everyone. All the rest of the times it has been me leading the way."

"Tony actually manually I putted my score there," I said. "He said that I proved myself enough for the endurance test with the problem with my eyesight."

"I mentioned it to him before we left," Vision said. "I'm glad he took my lead there." He gestured to the table where Hank still sat. "Come join us. We're discussing an upgrade schedule for everyone."

I nodded as the two of us sat down at the table again with Hank.

"So, fill me in," I said. "What is there that I need to know about before I can add my input?"

"Currently, there has been only one huge fight for AI," Vision said, bringing up a hologram showing the information about the battle. "We barely managed to squeeze by and that's when we realized that, aside from myself, the others haven't had an upgrade for awhile."

"It was a good thing, then, that we did our upgrades with Tony a week before the call," I pointed out.

"It was," Vision agreed.

"During that battle, I realized that some of the powers countered each other out instead of mixing and forming a bigger attack," Hank said. "It's not like when you and Vision did the practice of weaving a plasma ball into an optic beam, making it a powerful attack. For instance, Victor's electrical ability neutralized when it make contact with Vision's optic beam."

I nodded. "So what order were you guys thinking? Obviously we can't have the whole team in upgrades at once," I said.

"Nor can I work on everyone at once," Hank agreed.

"We were walking about having Alexis up first, follow by Victor and then Monica," Vision said. "Unless you have any objections, then we'll have Alexis go in after lunch."

"I don't see any problems with that," I said. "Let's do it." I paused.

"Also something else," Hank said. "Whenever you or Vision need upgrades, Tony requested that he be the one to be the one to perform them."

"Understandable," I said. "He mentioned that to me while I was just hanging around at the tower. Would he be flying here or us going to him?"

"Him coming here," Vision said.

XXX

"It is great to see you finally as part of the team, Rose," Monica said as we all gathered for lunch.

Even though the only one of us that needed to eat at every meal was Hank, Vision told me that everyone still came and sat down for the hour, even if it was just us talking the whole time.

"It's great to be here," I said. "I've been eager to get into battle."

"Now we've got a full team," Victor said.

"So we came up with a schedule for the upgrades we talked about this morning at breakfast," Vision said.

"What is it?" Alexis asked.

"After lunch, Alexis will go first," Hank said. "After that, Victor will do in, and then Monica."

"Will Rose and Vision be having upgrades, as well?" Monica said.

"We've had our upgrades about a week before the call to gather," I said. "Our systems are up to date and battle-ready."

"And when will we be going over everyone's final scores?" Victor said.

"After Monica's recovered from her upgrades," Vision said. "We're expecting to be done by dinner tonight."

Though I didn't show it, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in myself again, and feel a little bit of fear of what the others would say when they saw what my scores were, especially the physical examination score.

"We have contacted Tony and he will be here shortly so should Alexis or Victor not feel well after their upgrades and Hank is unable to provide immediate assistance, he can take care of you," Vision continued.

"When is his expected arrival?" Alexis said.

"Right now," a voice said as we turned to see Tony walking into the room.

"Tony, we were expecting you in thirty minutes," Vision said as he and I got to our feet.

"I left when you told me what you were doing," Tony said.

"If we had known you were coming as soon as we contacted you, Vision and I would've been there to greet you when you arrived," I said.

"There's no need for such formalities, Rose, Vision," Tony replied as he pulled up a chair and sat down between me and Hank. "It's not like I'm some kind head figure that will make some kind of bad press if I don't like what's going on."

Vision and I both sat down again.

"Alright, if you say so," I said.

"Sir, ma'am, I hate to be a bother but there's an incoming transmission," JARVIS announced.

"From whom?" Vision said. "And where?"

"Latveria," JARVIS replied. "Victor Von Doom. He states that it is urgent."

"Doom?" I repeated. "What does Doom want with us?"

"I don't know," Vision said. "But we're going to find out. Come on, Rose."

The two of us went to the conference room.

"JARVIS, accept transmission," I said.

"Yes ma'am," JARVIS replied.

The screen came up with Dr. Doom on it.

"Before you say anything, Doom, know this: if we decide you are wasting our time, we'll end this intermission here and now," Vision said before Doom could speak. "We are too busy to be playing your games right now."

"I'll skip the formalities and cut right to the chase, then," Doom replied. "I am planning on making an address right in New York and I request that Avengers AI be present as security."

"Why us?" I asked. "Surely you could have your Doombots be security."

"They are but just henchmen, Rosalina," Doom said. "The most security they do is protect the castle from invaders. If there was a full-on attack at the location of my address, they wouldn't be able to protect me."

"One so powerful, I'm surprised you've even considered security," Vision remarked.

"Even the most powerful need backup, am I right?" Doom said.

"We'll give you that one," I said after a pause.

"What's the catch?" Vision spoke up suddenly.

"Catch?" Doom asked, confused.

"Yes, what do you hope to get out of this besides protection?" Vision replied.

"Just the comfort that comes with knowing that I don't have to worry about an attack," Doom said. "Is that too much to ask?"

"What is your address about, anyways?" I said, still skeptical, and not even bothering to hide it.

"My speech is about conducting a trade agreement between your country and mine. It will be at an international gala," Doom said.

" _Harmless enough_ ," I thought in my mind, but I was still suspicious.

"Please give us a moment to discuss," Vision said.

"Of course," Doom said.

Vision and I both turned away and I froze time, placing a hand on his arm.

"I don't like this," I said immediately. "He wants something. You know what happened the last time he was here in America. He tried to steal Stark tech. What's to stop him from trying to do that again?"

"We will," Vision said. "This time, it's AI who's doing this security. If he attempts to steal anything of Tony's, Tony will be there to know right away that something's going on. But if he is here to discuss trade, which I'm sure is at least part of his plan, then we have no right to interfere, especially since it'll better the good of the US. I don't like the idea of him being in the country without knowing everything that he's planning just as much as you, but if we're going to protect the world, then we have to be his security."

I sighed after a moment. "You're right," I said. "Unless I'm mistaken, we have our response."

"We do," Vision said. "Go ahead and let time move again."

I nodded and we both turned to the computer before I let time move again. "We have your answer," I said.

"And that is?" Doom replied.

"We will be your security," Vision said. "But be warned: if you do anything that we think is detrimental to either our country or the rest of the planet, we will, personally, be escorting you back to Latveria."

"I will not be doing anything like that," Doom said. "You have my word. I will be contacting you with more details closer to the time of the gala."

Connection broke and we looked at each other.

"Come on, let's join the others," Vision said.

I nodded and we walked back to lunch.

"What did Doom want?" Hank asked when we walked inside and sat down in our seats again.

"Protection when speaking at an upcoming international gala where he will be discussing trade," I said. "He requested the Avengers AI be there."

"You guys said no, right?" Tony said.

"We didn't have enough evidence based on what he said to conclude that there was anything hostile," Vision said. "We had no choice. We both wish we did not have to do this, though."

"He tried to steal Mr. Stark's tech last time," Monica pointed out.

"We know, but we couldn't find any hints that he would be doing anything bad," I said. "Until it is time for the gala, we have to assume that this will just be a harmless speech."

"Discussion on this topic is closed for the time being," Vision stated before the others could say anything.

The moment he said that, I knew he really didn't want to do this. Since living together for years and having countless discussions, whether it be just us two, with our kids, or with friends, I knew that whenever he brought such a sudden end to a discussion, he either didn't like the outcome of whatever we were talking about, didn't want to continue to talk or else he thought he would snap, or he just wanted to avoid an argument.

This time, I could tell that it was all three.

I looked over at him, seeing that he was staring at his hands folded on the table.

Another sign that he didn't want to continue to talk.


	5. Weakest Link

Chapter 4 Weakest link

"Here are the final results," Hank said after dinner when Tony left and Monica had recovered.

We were all gathered in the conference room, sitting around the table as Hank brought up the scores.

I remained emotionless as I saw where my scores were for the overall and especially the physical test.

Even when I first started out as an Avenger, I was near the top, if not, the complete top of the list.

"Here we have our overall scores," Hank said as the first scores came up. "From first to fifth the places are Vision, Victor, Rosalina, Alexis, and Monica."

"Aside from Vision and Monica, the scores are really close to one another," Victor said.

"It was very close," Hank agreed. "Now we move on to the endurance test." He shrunk the scores for the overall test and enlarged that endurance scores. "Once again from first to fifth, it is Rosalina, Vision, Victor, Alexis, and Monica."

"Well done, Rose," Alexis said. "I was not expecting that."

"Thank you Alexis," I said. I paused. "I think."

"What about the physical scores, Doctor Pym?" Monica asked.

Vision reached under the table and took my hand in his, knowing that I didn't want the scores from the physical portion of my exam to be seen by the others.

"Yes, let me bring them up," Hank said, making the endurance scores small and making the physical scores bigger. "The scores are in order, Vision, Alexis, Victor, Monica, and Rosalina."

I mentally prepared myself for the reaction of the others upon hearing my ranking for the physical scores.

"Rose is...last?" Victor said, confused.

"Not just last by a couple points: by a long shot," Alexis added.

"That can't be right. There must've been some kind of glitch in Tony's computer when it came to her test," Monica put in.

"It is the right score," I said, touched that they were trying to reason why my score was so low instead of shooting me down immediately. "Remember, I'm not a complete android. Just by you guys being built from the start, you guys have a huge advantage over me with most, if not, all physical aspects of combat. That score is a personal record for me, but not a record for the team."

"I'm confused, and I don't mean this the wrong way, but if you aren't the best physically, then why were you appointed one of our leaders?" Alexis said. "I would assume that the two would be the best of the best."

"Because there's more to leading than strength," Vision replied before I could speak. "Because she is partly human, she has an advantage over us: underground. Though she still would be affected if she were to be there for a long period of time, it wouldn't be as bad as us staying underground the exact same time."

"Plus Rose has the natural-born leadership that many lack," added Hank. "I've seen her lead her team before, not only in West Coast when Clint and Vision were both down or gone for whatever reason, but also leading the second team in the Avengers. Not to put down Vision, but Rose is the better leader out of the two."

"No I completely agree," Vision said before looking over at me. "She definitely is the leader out of the two of us."

I did a small smile. "Thanks Vision, Hank," I said.

XXX

"Just like we practiced," Vision said as he and I went into the practice simulation while everyone had some free time the next day.

"Are you sure you want to continue to practice this?" I asked as the robots came up out of the ground. "We got to about halfway of my strength before we started seeing a backfire."

"We've had upgrades since then," Vision said. "We'll start out with where we left off and continue from there."

I nodded and turned to face the robots. "Just like we practiced," I repeated.

Vision shot an optic beam at the robots.

I froze time before it hit them and stepped up to the beam, using my magic and weaving a plasma ball of half strength into it, seeing the yellow and the pink mix together. I stepped back as time moved again, the plasma-infused beam hitting it's target.

Along with that, it caused a mini explosion that sent both Vision and I falling onto our backs.

"Rose, are you alright?" Vision asked as he rolled onto his side and looked at me.

I nodded as I got to my knee. "Yea, fine," I said. "Are you?"

"I'm not hurt," Vision replied as we both got to our feet.

"That actually turned out much better than I thought it would," I remarked. "Definitely better than before

"Do you want to try to add a tiny bit more energy?" Vision suggested.

"Yea, let's see what happens this time," I said. "Since we know what to expect now."

We kept going until we got to about three-fourths of full strength when an alarm went off. We looked at each other and darted to the conference room.

"JARVIS?" I asked as we got inside, the others coming in moments after us.

"There are hostile forces approaching the base," JARVIS replied.

"Who?" Vision questioned.

"It looks like it is AIM," JARVIS said.

"AIM?" Vision repeated.

"What's MODOK up to this time?" I groaned. I turned to the others, seeing that they were awaiting orders. "Hank, get to your lab and activate the security features for an invasion. The rest of us will go out to face them. Remember to be aware of his psionic powers."

"Time to put these upgrades to the test," Victor said.

"Now might be a good time to put what we've been practicing to the test," Vision said to me as we followed the others out.

I nodded. "If it comes to that," I said. "We'll see how this goes. If we have to, we'll do it."

"I was beginning to wonder if anyone was home," MODOK remarked as we came outside. "It would've been a shame to bring all this heavy artillery and men out here and not have a need for it. Though I am surprised you are still around: Rosalina Barton, being so weak compared to your teammates. How does it feel to be the odd-man out?"

"What do you want, MODOK?" I demanded, his words causing me some damage but not showing it, especially in front of the others.

"Isn't it obvious?" MODOK replied. "The destruction of the Avengers!"

"We are not going to let that happen," Vision said. "Avengers, attack!"

We all charged forward as MODOK sent the AIM troops at us.

The soldiers were easy, us taking them down like they were nothing.

"Security break in," JARVIS reported. "All security measures failed."

"Hank!" Monica exclaimed.

"I'll go! You guys keep fighting!" I yelled before racing back to the base. I flew inside. "JARVIS, where?"

"Approaching Dr. Pym's lab," JARVIS replied.

I mentally cursed, freezing time and rushing to the lab, letting time move again once I got there. "Hank, are you alright?" I asked as he turned to me, holding a taser but lowering it when he realized it was me.

"I'm alright for now," Hank replied. "The security systems fell so fast. That worried me."

"We'll work on them after this is done with," I said, forming a plasma ball in my hands and standing guard.

"Do you hear that?" Hank whispered after a moment of silence.

That's when I heard it: the groan of metal giving in.

Before I could react, one of the metal support beams fall on top of me, me having just enough time to reach up and grab it, falling to my knees from the force of impact.

"Rose!" Hank cried.

"I-I got th-this," I groaned, planting a foot on the ground and slowly pushing up against the beam, my shoulder aching from where it made contact. The strain was evident in my voice. "C-contact the o-others. Hurry!"

Hank said into his communicator, "If someone can be spared from the battle, there's a situation in the lab."

"MODOK fled," Vision reported. "What is it?"

I looked up as I heard footsteps and saw an AIM soldier that had slipped by our defense, aiming a shot at me. Before I could call out to Hank for him to use his taser, I was shot at, getting me straight in the chest, causing me to collapse with the beam on top of me, pinning me down and keeping me from breathing well. "H-help," I breathed.

"It's Rose," Hank said as he grabbed his taser and used it on the AIM agent. "Someone get over here now."

"Already here," Vision said, phasing through the wall. He rushed to my side and started to lift the beam off of me as the others rushed through the doorway.

"Rose!" Victor said as he came next to me and pulled me out of the way in case Vision accidentally dropped the beam. "Are you alright?!"

I slowly shook my head, feeling pain overwhelming my senses. My chest and shoulder ached, making it difficult for me to breath and to move my arm.

"Monica, Alexis, one of you get this," Vision said, holding the beam up as if it was a twig. "I'll weld it back into place and get Rose to the infirmary."

Alexis stepped forward and took Vision's place, also easily holding it up.

Vision used an optic beam to fuse it back into place and then came to me, picking me up. "Come on, we'll get you checked out," he said as he went to the infirmary. "The rest of you, see what happened with the security systems and make sure the AIM agent doesn't get away." When we got to the infirmary, he set me down in a bed and performed a scan on my body to see how everything was. "Your chest is bruised and so is your shoulder. Your self repairs are already taking care of off of those, so luckily nothing serious," he told me, running a hand through my hair to sooth me. "Do you want me to get the pain medicine?"

"Please," I mumbled. "Hurts to breath."

"Alright, I'll get it," Vision said. He kissed my forehead and then got the medicine, helping me take it.

"Maybe MODOK's right," I said.

"What do you mean?" Vision asked, concerned.

"I shouldn't have such a high ranking for AI," I replied. "I shouldn't even be in AI. I'm the weakest one out of the entire team and the team is only as strong as their weakest member. Look at what happened today: I couldn't save myself when I was pinned down. Had you or the others not been there, chances are Hank and I would've died then and there."

"Don't say that," Vision said, sitting down next to me. "You are not the weakest one. You are the strongest person I know. You of all people should know strength comes from more than just what you can physically lift. You have abilities that we do not possess."

"Like what?" I said. "The limitations that flesh and blood bring me? The watered down super hearing? The toned down super eyesight even after Tony replaced some nerves with wires?"

"The passion that all humans have to fight for their cause until their dying breath," Vision protested. "The emotions needed to bring out the best of us. The compassion and understanding that we do not get fully because we are not all flesh and blood, but machine. I don't think Tony realized the consequences of his actions fully when he turned you into an android on that fateful day, both the good and the bad."

A ghost of a smile appeared on my face for a brief moment. "What did I do to deserve such a great husband like you, Vision?" I whispered, reaching to him with my good arm and holding his hand.

"You were yourself," Vision said. "You _are_ yourself." He kissed the back of my head. "Is the medicine kicking in?"

"Yea," I said. "I guess a good thing about being a robot is how quickly the medicine, when it does work, is. Makes the pain more tolerable faster. How long am I sitting out this time?"

"Not too long," Vision said. "Just a day."

I nodded. "Better than I expected," I said. "That's at least something I can look forward to."

XXX

"How are you feeling?" Hank asked me as I walked into the room for dinner with Vision. I didn't have any sling on but I held my arm to the chest to help with my shoulder.

"No training for me tomorrow," I said. "Any idea what happened with the security system?"

"It was just out-dated," Alexis said. "So outdated that it shut down on itself when it was activated. We fixed it."

"Good," Vision said. "Though we should run a test on it, just in case."

"We can do that tomorrow," Hank said. "I think we've seen enough action for today."

"Did you found out what brought the support beam down?" I said.

"The AIM agent," Victor said. "It has been resupported to keep from it falling again."

"Good," I said. "One person being injured in that is one more than should've happened."

"You're very lucky that you have metal where you were hit," Monica said. "In a normal human, the bone would've been broken."

"Yea well I've been really lucky in my life," I said with a sigh.

"Hey, it could've been worse," Victor said as he reached to me and put a hand on my shoulder. He quickly retracted it when I winced in pain, it is was the bruised one. "Sorry."

"It's alright," I said, gingerly massaging my shoulder. "Just not again."

"Of course," Victor replied.

"Let's look on the bright side of this entire thing," Hank said. "The base is still protected, we had minimal damage, and everyone is alive. It could've been much worse, so much worse."

"That is true," Vision said.


	6. The Press

Chapter 5 The Press

"Are we still able to come home for Thanksgiving?" Lucy asked a few nights later when Vision and I Skyped her and Lucas and they asked about why the room we were in wasn't our living room like usual.

"Yes, we'll take a break for Thanksgiving, though it might be here at the base instead," I said. "We will still be having it, though."

"And the annual family hockey game?" Lucas added.

"We can still do that outside, yes," Vision said.

"Promise?" Lucy asked.

"We promise," I said. "And we'll invite everybody: Uncle Clint and his family, Aunt Wanda and Uncle Pietro, the other Avengers and their families, everyone."

"That sounds like fun," Lucas said. "Literally everyone back together for celebration and not fighting."

"Mom, you don't have your glasses on," Lucy observed.

"Yea, long story," I said. "I'm fine."

"We have time before weight training," Lucas said.

Before Vision and I could reply, there was a knock on the door and Monica opened the door.

"Monica, is everything alright?" Vision asked.

"I think you two should come see this news segment," Monica said. "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"We'll tell you two later," I told the brother and sister. "We have to go. Love you."

"We love you, too," Lucas said.

"Stay safe," Lucy said.

"Have fun at weight training," Vision added.

We ended the conversation and joined the others in the lounge as they watched the news, arriving just as it came back from commercial.

"Avengers AI, good or bad?" the news anchor asked. "With the newest team of Avengers many have mixed opinions on whether this team is helping or not. Those who remember the incident in Sokovia can't help but be fearful that this team will become multiple Ultron's. Being lead by familiar faces Rosalina Barton and the Vision, that is at least some relief to people, but many are still afraid. Even with the endorsement of Tony Stark and Hank Pym, citizens share their concerns. We'll have more details regarding the team on our news at nine."

I turned off the TV and we fell into silence for a moment.

"They don't trust us," Victor said after a long pause.

"Because they don't know us yet," Vision said.

"You never had this problem as Avengers or West Coast Avengers," Alexis pointed out.

"And what do they mean by more details?" Monica added.

"Press conferences?" Hank suggested.

"I've always hated doing those," I muttered. "The media is relentless."

"Have they contacted us for an appointment?" Vision said.

"Nothing yet," Hank said. "And they have only a few hours before the news."

"Should we deny their requests?" Monica said.

"No," I said. "That would only raise suspicion, make the public more scared."

"Incoming transmission from Tony," JARVIS announced.

"Come on, let's go," Vision said as he and I got to our feet, heading to the conference room and accepting the transmission.

The very first thing Tony said when he came on the screen was, "What the heck have you guys been doing to get the media on you?! I've been in several press conferences today trying to cover you guys and justify your existence as a team!"

"We haven't done anything!" I replied. "They all have been against us for no reason!"

"I'm having a hard time believing that, Rose," Tony said. "They have been bombarding me with all these questions."

"Honestly, Tony, we don't know what their problem is," Vision said. "We have only been out fighting a few times. We've been in the base other than that, staying to ourselves, not bothering anyone."

"I sure hope that's the truth," Tony said. "And it's just them overreacting."

"They compared the team to a group of Ultrons," I said.

"They are definitely overreacting," Vision added. "We are _nothing_ like Ultron."

"Yea I didn't like any questions comparing you to him," Tony said. "I was quick to correct them about that."

"If they're saying we're going to be the next murderous robots bent on destroying the world, then they are _really_ paranoid and letting their fears drive them," I said. "They've said nothing about any other Avenger teams across the globe but they have a problem with Avengers AI because we're androids and are being quick to judge us before giving us a real chance."

"Rose, you don't need to tell me, I know," Tony said. "I'm doing everything I can to keep you guys out of press conferences but they may ask the two of you for some. If they do, you have to accept."

"And even though we don't like it, we will," Vision said.

"I have another press conference in five that I need to prepare for," Tony said. "You guys definitely owe me."

"We'll make it up to you somehow," I said. "Thank you."

We broke connection and the two of us went to join the others again.

"What did Tony say?" Hank asked when we entered the room.

"He wanted to know what we've been doing to cause the media to hate us," Vision said as we sat down again. "He's been doing his best to defend us."

"Thank goodness for that," Alexis said.

"Vision and I might have to do press conferences," I said. "We'll just see how things go. Tony's been doing all of them at the moment, trying to keep us from doing that."

"If they do, we'll accept," Vision added. "We don't have much of a choice."

"We'll just have to watch the evening news to see what they say and work from there," Hank said. "But one thing's for sure: we're not going to stop what we're doing."

"Definitely not," I said. "AI is not going anywhere. Even if we have to switch this as an underground project."

"Hopefully it will not come to that," Alexis said. "Sooner or later they'll realize that this fear is unnecessary and drop the whole thing."

"We can only hope," Monica said.

XXX

That night after we watched the nine o'clock news, where they seemed to pick apart Tony's interviews and showed only the things that appear bad out of context, everyone gave each other some space.

I went to my room after the news, needing some alone time to process and think about what was going on.

When Vision walked into the room, he found me sitting on the bed and rewatching the news, deep in through. He frowned and grabbed the remote from where it sat on the edge of the desk by the door and turned off the TV. "Keep watching that and it'll rot your brain, Rosalina," he said as he set the remote down and came to sit next to me.

"I just don't understand why the media is out to get us," I said, still looking at the black TV screen. "I've never understood it, really, why they think they have the right to pry into people's lives when they just want to be left alone. It was a huge pain before when we were trying to have normal lives with the kids."

"You know how people are with gossip," Vision replied. "They cannot get enough of it. There's no point in trying to understand _why_ they do it. They're displaying negative views on AI. We'll just have to make them see differently."

"Somehow," I agreed. I sighed and rested my head on the shoulder. "Somehow we'll do that." I paused. "Even though I don't want to do it, I think we should reach out to them about doing a press conference. It's the only thing I've ever gotten anxious about and the only thing I don't miss about when the Avengers were still together. I had to do them with Steve, and he knows how much I dreaded them."

"At least this time they won't be asking you about your past before the Avengers and about HYDRA when they found out you were a test subject," Vision pointed out as he put an arm around my shoulders. "I know that's what you hated most about it."

"Because they had no right in prying in so much information like that," I said. "They didn't need to know all that information. That was personal information that I still don't know how they got ahold of with the HYDRA part."

"We may never know," Vision said. "It happened unfortunately. But I do think we should contact them instead of waiting for them to come to us. And the sooner the better."

"So let's contact them now?" I suggested as I lifted my head up and looked at him.

"Yes, even though it is late," Vision said. "We'll just leave a message if they don't answer."

I nodded as we got to our feet, walking to the conference room. When we got there, we got the list of media sources that had talked to Tony and then started to contact them to have a press conference. We scheduled it for the next day in the afternoon.

"Well, this is actually happening," I said, looking at Vision as we both sat back in our chairs. "I hope that since we're reaching out to them, they won't view us in such a negative light."

"We can only hope for the best," Vision said.

I looked at my phone as I got a text, seeing it from Lucas. "The kids saw the news about AI," I said as I sat up. "They're asking what's going on and it we're alright."

"Just tell him the truth," Vision said. "No point in hiding it from those two."

I nodded as I texted back to Lucas, telling him what was going on but that we were fine. I sighed as I put my phone down and leaning back again. "I was hoping this would be just a local thing, you know? Not going out of New York," I mumbled.

"When it comes to the Avengers, it's never local," Vision said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "Good or bad."

"I know," I said as I rested my head on his shoulder. "I hoped but I knew that wasn't going to happen."

Vision kissed the top of my head. "Tomorrow we will set things right. We will have our own camera set up and if they twist our words around, we can release our video clip so that people will see that," he said.

"That's one way to tackle the media," I said. I looked at my phone again as I got another message, Lucas asking what we're going to do. I replied to him, telling him that we were going to do an interview.

His next response surprised me.

"The Great Lakes branch is asking for him and his sister to join," I said, sitting up quickly.

"What?" Vision asked, looking at the text.

"The Great Lake Avengers reached out to Luce and I today. They know we're on the backup list but they are asking for us to join. What do we tell them?" it said.

"They've wanted this but they're still asking us," Vision said.

"We already put them as backups," I said. "It was only a matter of time before they were asked to fight. If it's alright with you, I'm going to tell him to ask if they can still do school and hockey, since that's part of their scholarships and it's only fair that they play in return. If they can do that, they can join."

Vision was silent for a moment, thinking, and when I looked over at him, he said, "Alright, but make sure to tell them that if they need help to contact us and we will be there as quickly as possible. Who would be their teammates?"

"I'll ask him," I replied as I texted Lucas what we said and then asked about the potential teammates. When my phone dinged again, I read out, "T'Challa, Wanda, Stephen, and Nathaniel. I'll need to ask Wanda what's going to happen about her wedding. I'm surprised she hasn't called me yet, and that Clint hasn't called to tell me about my nephew."

"They are both probably waiting until the morning," Vision said. "If we do not hear from them by after the press conference, go ahead and call them."

I nodded, my mind swimming with everything going on.

XXX

"So we kinda moved up the wedding," Wanda told me over the phone the next morning. "It's now a week from today. Stephen and I will be traveling to Chicago to join the Great Lake Avengers."

Vision and I were in the conference room. He was working on filling out some forms for the media and I was going to help him but that's when Wanda called, him saying for me to not worry about the paperwork and see what's going on.

"It looks like Lucas and Lucy are going to be joining you, as well," I said. "They told Vision and I last night about that. Is everything still going to be the same?"

"Yea but now I am kinda in a rush to pick out the wedding dress and decorations and everything," Wanda said. "Are you busy today?"

"I have a press conference this afternoon," I said. "I'm sure you heard about the AI stuff."

"You mean all the lies?" Wanda replied. "Yea, I know about it. Is that what the press conference is about?"

"Yea, it is," I said.

"Did they force you or did you and Vision plan it?" Wanda said.

"Before they forced us because we thought that would make AI look better," I said. "How about I call you after the press conference and we can meet someplace for lunch. I was going to eat dinner today but a meal early doesn't hurt."

"Can I come to the press conference?" Wanda asked, which surprised me because she was like me when it came to press conferences. "I'll stay in the back."

I was about to say that it wouldn't be best but then remembered that we could need someone to film the conference for our own records. "Actually, would you mind recording it?" I answered. "If they cut apart the film like what they did with Tony, we need to have our own clip to release."

"Of course," Wanda said. "Good idea. Stephen's gone already to get his stuff ready for the wedding. I can be there in twenty."

"Thanks Wanda," I said. "Really appreciate it. And then after that we can get you ready for Saturday."

We said our farewells and hung up. I was about to turn to Vision, who was working on some paperwork, to tell him what Wanda said when my phone rang.

"Clint?" Vision asked without looking up from writing.

I looked at the caller ID. "Yep," I said. "Speakerphone?"

"I would like to hear what he has to say," Vision replied. "Knowing him, I might find some humor in it."

I nodded as I answered the phone, putting it on speakerphone and setting it between me and Vision. "Morning Clint," I said.

"The Great Lake Avengers want to have Nathaniel join them!" was Clint's first response.

"That's a great way to say good morning," I commented sarcastically. Then on a more serious note, I said, "They want Lucas and Lucy to join. Told us last night and asked us what to do. We already told them that if they are still allowed to do their classwork and hockey, they can join."

"What if Nathaniel doesn't work well with them?" Clint said.

"Do you know who's the team members?" I said.

"No," Clint admitted. "Do you?"

"T'Challa's the leader, and his teammates will be Lucas, Lucy, Wanda, and Stephen. The only one he doesn't really know as well as the others is T'Challa, and he still knows him," I said. "I don't think you'll have to worry about him not working well with the others."

"Wanda and Stephen?" Clint repeated. "What's going to happen to the wedding, then?"

"They moved it to Saturday, a week from today," I said. "I just got off the phone with her about it."

"I'll need to tell Laura," Clint mumbled under his breath.

"Back to the subject," I said. "Are you going to let Nathaniel join?"

Clint sighed. "I don't know, Rosie," I said. "Is Vision there? How did he react to the news?"

"I know the abilities of my kids," Vision said. "They can hold their own. And if they need help, I know that they will call. Do you trust Nathaniel and the training he has had with his powers?"

"I do," Clint said. "It's just...I'm remembering every single bad thing that happened to me: Loki controlling me, getting hurt before Ultron, getting kidnapped, having my emotions played with, being caught in the explosion, everything, and I'm scared that Nathaniel will have to go through some of that."

"Clint, let's weigh the pros and cons," I said. "Yes, there's the risk of severe injury, but he has the ability to heal. He can be the team's medic. That'll make him a very important member of the team."

"Thus meaning they might give him more protection," Vision added.

"Alright, well, what about him not fitting in?" Clint pointed out.

"For people around his own age, Lucas and Lucy are there," I said. "They call him their brother and he calls them brother and sister, not cousins. Plus, he knows Wanda and through her, Stephen."

"And Nathaniel and Wanda both have magic abilities and Lucy has some archery skills," said Vision.

"That's true," Clint said. "But he's going to be away from home."

Vision and I looked at each other, amused by that remark.

"Clint, we have kids in _college_ by the Great Lake Avengers base," I said. "Trust me, him being away won't be detrimental to how you are right now."

"But it's nearing the holidays and his birthday!" Clint protested.

"There is such a thing as 'vacation' and 'holiday leave'," Vision commented. "Even so soon after the formation of a team."

"You're right," Clint said. "Think you can come talk to Laura about this? She's a bit stressed out with the idea of him fighting."

"Of course," I said. "But I can't do it today. We have a press conference and then I'm going to spend some time with Wanda and help her with stuff for the wedding."

"If you don't mind Rose not being there, I can head to the farm after the conference," Vision offered.

"Yea that would be fine," Clint said. "What's the conference about? How AI is a bunch of psychopathic robots modeled like Ultron to take over the world despite having the Avengers title in the name?"

"Bingo," I said. "Right on the dot."

"That was the fear when Vision first joined and after you became an android," Clint pointed out. "And look what happened with you two."

"Us and Hank are the only three they trust," Vision agreed.

"Well enjoy the press conference," Clint said. "Don't let the media get under your skin too much. When you're done, Vision, let me know when you're on the way and Rose, have fun with Wanda."

"We will," I said. "We love you. I'll talk to you soon."

"And I'll see you soon," Vision said.

"Love you both," Clint said. "Bye."

We hung up and Vision returned to the paperwork he was filling out.

"Need help with anything?" I offered as I put my phone away.

"Nope," Vision said. "You just need to get ready to look even better than usual in front of the camera."

"Well I guess that's my cue," I said as I got to my feet. "It always feels strange to wear makeup when I'm in uniform, but at least it's only for press conferences and when we'll be showing up at events."

"I'll let you know when Wanda gets here," Vision said after I gave him a quick kiss and I went to walk to our room.

"You can just send her my way," I said. "She should be here in about ten."

"Will do," Vision said.

When I made it inside, I started on my makeup, not doing a lot.

I heard a knock on the door as I was working on my eye makeup. "One minute!" I called as I did the eyeliner on one eye. I set it down and went to open the door, seeing Wanda there and smiling. "Wanda, hey!"

"Hey Rose," Wanda said, smiling as she hugged me. "Vision said you'd be here." She chuckled as she sees the eyeliner on one eye and not the other, giving me a weird look. "I guess I interrupted something."

"How funny do I look?" I asked as I invited her inside and she sat down on the edge of the bed.

"One eye looks bigger than the other," Wanda admitted.

I looked at my reflection and laughed. "Yea, it does," I said, sitting down and starting on the other eye. "I know how to fix that."

Wanda watched as I did my makeup and then went to put on my uniform. "New look?" she asked as she saw the new design of my jacket and pants.

I nodded. "Yea, new team, new look," I said. "I sometimes wear the jacket when Vision and I are going out because I like it so much."

"You want to be careful: your jacket might be gone next time you look for it," Wanda said. "It's really nice."

I chuckled. "Well if one of them is missing, I'm going to be calling Stephen and asking him if there's a bit of blue in your closet because knowing you, you'll say 'No Rose, I haven't seen your jacket!'," I said, zipping up the front of the jacket and sitting down to tie my combat boots.

"And if you were my size, I'd steal those boots," Wanda added. "I'm jealous."

"Good thing we don't have the same shoe size, then," I remarked, going to grab my cape and putting it on. "Well, how do I look?"

"Like you're going to kick someone's butt if they mess with you," Wanda answered as she got to her feet. "I'm glad you're on my side."

A small smile crossed my face. "Good," I said. "I was going for that."

There was a knock on the door and Vision came into the room. "The media is arriving," he said.

I nodded. "Alright," I said. "I'll meet you outside the room, let you get ready."

"I'll go take my place," Wanda said as she got to her feet. "Is there a camera for me to use?"

"Hank has one in the lab ready for you," Vision said. "Just swing by there on your way. Tony's old lab."

"Thanks Vision," Wanda said and she and I walked out of the room. "You nervous?"

I shook my head. "No," I said. "Just wondering how long it will take before they get under my skin."

"Well, just remember that after this, you and I are going out for some fun," Wanda reminded me.

"I know," I said. "I'm just looking forward to that."

We stopped by the lab so that Wanda could get the camera and she went ahead of me to where we'd be having the press conference.

I waited for Vision to join me, making myself as calm as possible before the conference, knowing that I would need it.

A hand was placed on my shoulder and I turned to see Vision there. He smiled at me and I returned the smile. "Ready?" he asked.

I nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be," I said.

"If at any time you feel you need to take a break, tell me," Vision said.

"I will," I said. "Let's just get out of the way the whole Ultron thing."

"Agreed," Vision agreed. "Before we start to take questions."

We walked into the room and up onto the stand where two chairs stood, sitting down in front of our nametags as cameras took pictures and people started to take video.

"Before we take questions," Vision stated, "we want to address the questions regarding if Avengers AI is going to be the next Ultrons."

"We are in no way, shape, or form Ultron," I said. "If we were, we would not be under the Avengers name and we would not be here today. We will have no discussion on that topic. Thank you. Now we will be taking questions."

Everyone began to raise their hands, shouting to get our attention.

"You right there," Vision said, pointing to a man in the front row.

"The events we have seen AI perform already have resulted in buildings being destroyed," the man said. "How do we know this isn't going to escalate?"

"We have tried to keep the damage to a minimum and we have always tried our best to repair what we damaged," I said. "Whenever we go into a battle, we attempt to keep the destruction of infrastructures down to a minimum."

"We always think about two things: getting the villain captured as quickly as possible and our surroundings to keep from causing more damage than there already is," Vision added. "Sometimes we do better than others, but as Rosalina stated, we always try to clean up after ourselves. Unfortunately in his line of work, we cannot guarantee that this is going to remain in its current state, but we can say that we will try our best to keep it that way. Next question?"

Once again, the hands went up and I picked on someone in the back row.

"With Vision's background of being built almost completely by Ultron and Magemancer's background of being a HYDRA test subject, is it a good choice to have you two be the leaders of a team as adept and masterful as this team?" asked the woman.

I immediately saw Wanda's reaction in the back of the room, putting a hand over her mouth with a surprised look on her face.

Vision and I stopped ourselves from glancing at each other.

"We both scored high on our tests to see where the team stood on their abilities," Vision said, choosing his words carefully but making sure to not make it look obvious he was doing that. "I was the highest on the physical portion of our test while Rosalina was the highest on the endurance portion."

"We also have had previous leadership experience being Avengers," I put in. "I have been the leader of the second Avengers team while Vision was the co-leader of the West Coast Avengers. We have been called two of the best Avengers and we also have two kids who are going to be in the Great Lake Avengers. Would they be that way if we were not good leaders?"

"Being good parents and good leaders are two completely different things," the woman pointed out.

I bit my tongue to keep my initial comment down, which definitely wouldn't have looked good on our part.

"Then what about our time with the two different Avenger teams?" Vision replied calmly but I could tell by the way he straightened up a little bit that he didn't take that comment too lightly. "Surely that must stand for something. Next question?"

We took questions for the rest of the hour, Wanda signaling when time was up, which seemed to take forever because of how relentless the reporters were with their questions.

"The hour long press conference is up," Vision said as the two of us got to our feet. "Thank you for coming and have a good day."

The two of us walked out of the room and as soon as we were out, I said, "I was just reminded all over again why I hate those things."

"Are you alright?" Vision asked, rubbing his forehead. "I know they asked some pretty rude things to you and you stopped yourself multiple times from saying something you might regret."

I nodded, leaning back against the wall with a hand on my forehead. "Yea, just frustrated. Are _you_ alright? I know you didn't take those parent comments too well."

"It is just...difficult, to say the least, when they think they're better parents to our kids than us," Vision said. "If we wanted parenting tips, we'd ask Clint, not them. Parents and leaders are different my-"

"Well at least that's over," Wanda said as she walked out of the room, Vision stopping himself from finishing that sentence. She paused as she saw how we were. "You two look like you wanna punch something."

"We'll be fine," I said as I straightened up. "Wanna head out to lunch?"

"After you do some training," Wanda replied. "It'll help, trust me. Both of you, whatever you were going to do after the meeting, postpone it by thirty minutes and go blow up some training robots. Whatever was going to happen, it can wait."

"Clint's expecting me," Vision said.

"Then I'll call him and tell him to wait thirty minutes," Wanda said, crossing her arms. "Go on. To the training room." She paused as as she we weren't moving. "Now."

"Alright, alright, we're going," Vision said.

"At least we're already dressed for it," I remarked as the two of us started to head that way.


	7. Two Become One

Chapter 6 Two Become One

"I'm _so_ nervous, Rose," Wanda said as I came into the room. "How the heck did you look so calm on your wedding day?!"

"Trust me: I was freaking out, myself," I said, closing the door behind me. "Alright, go ahead and sit down. I'll start on your hair."

Wanda nodded as she sat down and I looked at the picture of what she wanted. We had already practiced the look a few times but I still wanted the picture with me just as a reminder.

The media, luckily, had used some good clips, but there was still plenty where they have used some cutting and pasting to give us a bad rep, just enough to force us to release the video that Wanda had filmed.

Since then, stuff has looked better for AI.

Nathaniel was set to join the Great Lake Avengers and was going to travel with Wanda and Stephen after the wedding. Lucas and Lucy had confirmed that they'd be able to continue college and hockey so they also would be there.

"Let's talk about something so I'm distracted," Wanda said.

I chuckled, amused: I was exactly this way on my special day. "Well, what do you want to talk about?" I said.

"You haven't talked about your kids for awhile," Wanda said.

"Besides the news about Great Lake, there hasn't been a lot going on," I said. "Are you and Stephen considering kids?"

"We have talked about it," Wanda admitted. "Since I'm a twin, that means I'm more likely to have twins, myself, so we're taking that into consideration. Honestly, I wouldn't mind."

"Well let me tell you, even though I may not have given birth to my twins, but I love them dearly, and they definitely love each other's company," I said. "I don't think Vision and I have ever had problems with them fighting. They remind me so much of you and Pietro."

"They are great kids," Wanda agreed. "Are they coming?"

"They should be arriving by quinjet along with T'Challa in about an hour," I answered, looking at the picture and then continuing my work.

"I haven't seen them since the beginning of the summer," Wanda said. "I was on that long trip with Stephen and then when I got back, you guys were gone."

"They miss you, as well," I said. "They got to see Pietro but they say it's not the same without both of you being there."

Wanda smiled. "That's so sweet," she said. "I actually thought I would take a long time to adjust to not living with Pietro after I moved out to live with Stephen. It was actually surprisingly easy, the adjustment."

"Well that's how you know you're the best fit," I said. "You never did talk about your trip with him when you got back. How was it? What did you do?"

While I continued to work on her hair, she went on about how they went backpacking through the Amazon and did whitewater rafting, along with taking a gondola in Venice and being in a helicopter to see over Rome. The whole time, I was smiling, remembering how I had talked about my time with Vision before he proposed and seeing the uncanny resemblance between her and me.

When I started to work on her makeup, she had me tell her about when I went camping with Vision and the kids and Vision had an idea for me to turn into a bear at night to scare the kids because they were claiming they were fearless and that they could take on whatever animal came into our campsite. Of course, they freaked out when they saw me, making Vision and I start laughing. They claimed it wasn't funny, but it was hilarious to us.

"I swear, I love those kids to bits," Wanda said after laughing, now holding still with her eyes closed as I did her eyeliner.

"They're definitely excited to see you today," I said. "Lucy loved the picture I sent her of the wedding dress."

"I felt bad that she couldn't be with us to pick it out," Wanda said. "We had planned to go looking for a dress during Thanksgiving break."

"Speaking of which, will you and Stephen be joining us this year for Thanksgiving?" I said. "Pietro and Jubilee are coming. Vision and I are doing it at the base this year. We can't leave out the other Avengers for a celebration like this." I finished the eyeliner and pulled away. "Open."

"We'll be down along with the others," Wanda said, opening her eyes and letting me see how it looked. "Our first family holiday as a married couple, and we'll be spending it with family."

"Fantastic," I said, starting to do her mascara. "One nice big family gathering. As it should be."

"Stephen and I are definitely excited about that," Wanda said. "It's only a few weeks away."

"Indeed it is," I agreed, finished her mascara and now starting her lips. "No talking." Before she could respond, I put on her lipstick, chuckling at the look on her face. "Sorry. I've done that with myself when I was doing my makeup and talking with Vision at the same time."

When I finished and Wanda could speak again, she said, "That must be amusing."

"At first, Vision always got confused when I stopped speaking mid-sentence but when he looked back and saw me doing my lips, he just laughed," I said as I had her close her eyes and sprayed a makeup setting spray on her. "Now it's more he just laughs automatically because he knows when I go silent and I'm doing makeup, that's why."

"Still, it's pretty funny," Wanda said, opening her eyes again. "Am I ready to see how I look?"

"As long as you promise not to cry when you see how beautiful you look and mess up my work," I said teasingly, grabbing a mirror that I had set aside while I worked.

"I promise," Wanda said, letting me quickly fix a few strands of hair that went out of place before accepting the mirror from me. She was breathless. "I-I look...wow. I can't even describe it."

I smiled. "You're a beautiful woman, Wanda Maximoff, both on the inside and the outside," I said. "I'm glad you found the right man to realize that."

Wanda only nodded, unable to really talk. She had a smoky eye look with winged eyeliner, light pink blush, and scarlet red lipstick. Her hair was curled and framed her face, cascading down her shoulders and back. She definitely could take people's breaths away, and she wasn't even in her dress yet.

"Alright, I have an hour and a half to do my hair and makeup," I said. "I'll be doing it here so you have someone to talk to. Once I'm done, I'll get dressed, check in with Vision to see if anything needs to be done, and if everything's good, I'll come back and help you get dressed."

"Sounds good," Wanda said, who was still amazed by her own appearance.

I took that as a small victory for myself, having never seen myself as the makeup artist type. I started my hair and makeup, not doing anything as grand as Wanda's, but still making myself look impressive.

Like I told her, while we were talking, I stopped in mid-sentence when I did my lipstick, causing her to laugh.

"You were right about that," she remarked, looking up at me from the book she was reading.

"Come on, have I ever lied to you, Wanda?" I replied with a smirk after I finished my lipstick. I quickly sprayed the makeup setting spray on myself and got into my outfit, a single strap, scarlet dress with a simple silver belt and silver heels.

"I think I picked out a good dress for the maid-of-honor," Wanda said with a smile. "Scarlet is definitely a good color on you."

I chuckled as I looked at myself in the mirror. "Yea, it is," I admitted.

"But blue's still better," we said at the same time, causing us to laugh.

"Are you in my mind, Wanda Maximoff?" I asked teasingly.

"Maybe a little," Wanda replied with another laugh.

"Well, I'll be back," I said, giving her a quick hug before walking out to find Vision.

After checking in with Vision and greeting Lucas and Lucy, I went back to where Wanda was waiting, finding her definitely more nervous than before, which was understandable considering there were only about thirty minutes left before the ceremony.

"Hey, Wanda, look at me," I said as I placed my hands on her shoulders and made her stop so she could look at me. "Look into my eyes. Everything's going to be _fine_ , Wanda. _Trust me_. You can't possibly have a worse wedding than me and Vision."

"But your's was amazing until the end!" Wanda said.

"Exactly," I said. "No one's going to show up and crash the party at the very end. There aren't going to be any party crashers _at all_. Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you're going to be alright. You are going to have an amazing time with your now-fiance, soon-to-be husband. You've been dreaming of this day, the perfect wedding, for _years_. It will happen. The perfect wedding. A storybook wedding. One that you will be able to tell your kids and they'll think that it sounds too good to be good, but it won't be. Because it's about to happen. Stephen will not say no. If he didn't love you, then you two wouldn't have made it past the first date."

Wanda nodded slowly, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "You're right," she said. "Nothing's going to go wrong."

"Nothing," I said, squeezing her shoulders for a moment before letting them go. Now come on, let's get you dressed for when Pietro comes."

Wanda nodded again and I helped her into her dress, a dazzling white strapless dress that had a beaded top and flowing skirt. The finishing touch for this dress was the scarlet bow that matched my dress. She also had long white fingerless gloves that came up just above her elbow. I secured her veil, a white veil with a sparkling red trim, pulling it over her face. Her shoes were a low heel white sandal that looped around her ankle to secure it.

When I finished putting the veil in place, I took a step back to admire how she looked. "Wanda, if I were Stephen, I would consider myself pretty lucky to be marrying you right now," I said. "Go ahead and look in the mirror."

Wanda turned to look at herself in the mirror and was instantly breathless. "Wow," she whispered. "I look like one of those models in those fashion magazines we used to look over."

"You're already a beautiful woman, Wanda," I said. "This just made it that much more noticeable."

We both turned as there was a knock on the door.

"Stephen, if that's you-!" Wanda began.

"No, it's your brother that's older than you by twelve minutes," Pietro replied without opening the door. "Are you decent?"

"Yea, we are," Wanda said as I smirked, amused since I did the exact same thing to Clint on my wedding day.

Pietro stepped into the room and the moment he saw Wanda, he said, "My baby sister isn't such a baby anymore. Mom would've loved to see you in that dress."

"Don't make me cry, Pietro," Wanda begged, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Rose did such good work on me that I don't want to mess up what she did."

"You didn't see that coming?" Pietro replied, causing Wanda to chuckle as he hugged her tightly.

"Wanda, any last things you want me to do for you?" I questioned. "I'm going to get into place unless you want me to do something."

"I'm good right now, thank you, Rose," Wanda answered.

I nodded. "See you out there," I said as I slipped outside and walked to where the ceremony was going to be.

People were already seated and ready for the wedding to begin.

As I went to go stand in my spot, Stephen asked me, "How much do I have to thank you after the wedding?"

I just smiled as I turned to face the aisle. "Go ahead and see for yourself," I replied as the organ began to play and everyone got to their feet and turned to face where the bride was going to be walking out of.

The moment Pietro brought Wanda out, everyone was left speechless, gasping at how she looked. Wanda was beaming. Pietro had a look in his eye that I recognized from doing missions with the two of them: protection, that even though his sister wasn't going to have the Maximoff name after tonight, she was always going to be his to watch over and defend with his life, a look I easily recognized from when Clint walked me down the aisle.

"Rosalina, I owe you big time," Stephen breathed as he saw Wanda.

My smile widened as Pietro brought Wanda up to the stand and gave Stephen her hand, but not before whispering to him that he better protect her, or else.

We listened as the priest read what he had to and the two exchanged their vows.

Throughout the entire ceremony, I noticed the glances that Stephen kept giving Wanda, and whenever their eyes locked, they both were beaming with pride.

I watched as my best friend who was practically my sister change from Wanda Maximoff to Wanda Strange.

They exchanged their wedding rings and when the priest said those fateful words, "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Stephen lifted up Wanda's veil and they shared their first kissed as a married couple.

Cheers erupted from the crowd and as they separated, I could feel a powerful magical pulse coming off of the two, and all the doubts and worries I had at that moment about there being any serious arguments, any moments where one of them would storm off and leave the other fuming, any moments that could possibly be detrimental to their marriage, they all left me.

It was at that moment that I knew that their love would truly be "'til death do we part."


	8. Underground Exploration

Chapter 7 Underground Exploration

We had a week to go before Thanksgiving. While Hank was planning on returning to California for the holiday, the others offered their help to me and Vision for preparing the dinner.

But considering the increased activity since the wedding, we were beginning to wonder if we'd have time to even think about celebrating the holiday. We knew that everyone said that they'd be coming with their families, but that just meant that we'd have to be more alert for attacks should they happen.

Also, I never voiced this to Vision because I knew what his response was going to be, but every time we went into battle, I noticed that I wasn't doing a lot of damage compared to the others, making me realize how Clint felt whenever he was in a battle with us for the other teams, when the media always compared him to me.

One day we were heading back to the base after a wild goose chase with HYDRA when we got a message from Hank, saying that there was a security breach.

We looked at each other and began to rush back to the base.

When we got there, Hank was gone, his communicator left behind.

"Oh great, this definitely isn't good," Victor said.

"Do we have a lock on his location?" Alexis asked as Vision went to the computer and started a search to find him.

"Yes," Vision said as the coordinates came up. "He's located in…" His voice trailed off.

"Where?" Monica questioned.

Vision turned to us. "An abandoned mine, the deepest mine shaft in the state of New York," he said.

"Well that's just great," I said sarcastically. "We definitely can't leave him down there."

"Definitely not, so what's our plan of action?" Victor said.

"We can't go there now: we aren't fully charged and therefore will not be at our best to start off," Vision said. "Luckily charging up will not take much time since it was yesterday we all got some sleep and the person who used the most energy today was myself, which was not a lot. Even though we ate this morning, everyone have a snack and then rest up. JARVIS will alert us when everyone is at a hundred percent."

"Also, this will be a very good time to test out that solar energy packs that Hank has been working on for situations like this," I added. "Before I rest, I'll set those up and make sure that they are charging so that they can be as charged as possible before we set out. Hopefully there'll still be sunlight so that it can still get some energy as we head over."

"And if it's not enough?" Monica said.

"Out of everyone here, I'm the only one who can risk not having the energy pack," I said. "If need be, I'll distribute the energy left in mine to the rest of you so that you still have it."

"Are you sure about that Rose?" Alexis said.

I nodded. "It's a risk I'm willing to take if it'll help this team," I replied.

"Right, we have our game plan," Vision said. "We'll meet back here after everyone's ready."

The others nodded as we all went to eat something and then forced ourselves to nap.

"I sure hope we can get to Hank in time," I said as Vision and I went to lay down.

"We will," Vision said reassuringly. "What you said about the energy pack, are you sure you can handle that?"

"Like I said in the lab, it's a risk I'm willing to take," I said. "I'm not fully machine: I still have a brain that isn't a computer, a heart that beats blood that was once not entirely synthetic, strength and energy from limbs made of flesh and bone and not metal and synthetic skin. I hope that's enough of an advantage for this."

"Alright, if you're sure," Vision said. He kissed my forehead as we got into bed, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close to him. "Let's get some rest."

"Or at least try," I put in.

XXX

The quinjet landed outside of the mine and we all got out.

"Everyone secure your packs," Vision said as we all grabbed our solar energy packs, which I had made sure were ready to go before I got some rest.

We secured them but I made a conscious decision to not use mine unless I had no other option, determined to want to prove to myself that just because I was partly human didn't mean I was weak compared to the others.

"How far down do we have to go?" Victor asked as we started to walk into the mine.

"It showed a pretty far way down," Vision said. "But if we hurry, it should not affect us."

As we walked, I had an arrow on my bowstring, glad that I had weapons that didn't require a lot of energy from my body compared to the others who all had powers besides Vision, me having encouraged him to have a knife with him for this mission just in case.

So far so good as we went deeper into the mine.

"What was this mine once for?" Monica said as she looked at the mineral deposits on the walls. "Ore?"

"That's what my scanners are showing," Alexis said.

"Between the time this became abandoned and now, it appears a colony of bats have made refuge here," I whispered, smelling the bat droppings while we walked.

"I am _so_ glad my smell isn't finely tuned," Victor commented. Seeing the way I wrinkled my nose, he added, "Judging by your reaction, Rose, I think that's a good thing."

"I'd much rather be in a room covered in blood than this," I remarked.

Vision raised up a hand that had us fall silent, listening carefully to the sounds of the mine.

"I hear something," I breathed, picking up on what I thought was someone carving into stone. "I think it's Hank."

"We must be getting close," Monica observed.

"Check in, how is everyone's energy level?" Vision said.

When we all said that we were still in the good range, we continued down.

"Wait," I said suddenly, reaching out and grabbing Vision's arm to stop him from taking a step forward. "There's a trap." Before he could respond, I pulled back my bowstring and released the arrow, watching as it was suddenly engulfed in flames. "One-minute reset. Hurry! Everyone get through it!"

Not needing to be told twice, the others started to run through it, me waiting until Monica, the last one, got through it before chasing after them.

"Stop!" called out Vision, who remained at the front of the group, sliding to a stop before a ledge that suddenly dropped off. He looked over at Victor, who also tried to stop, and grabbed his arm to keep him from falling.

"Thanks," Victor said.

Before he could respond, the rest of us slid into them, the bat droppings on the ground not giving us enough traction to be able to stop.

By instinct, I reached out and grabbed the ledge with my hands, mentally cursing both at my bow fell out of my hands and down to the bottom below and by the sudden weight as everyone scrambled to grab onto each other to keep from falling, as well.

"Who's at the top?" I heard Vision call.

"Me," I said, the strain easily heard in my voice. "I don't have a good grip."

"I'm going to see how far down the ground below is," Vision said. "I'm at the bottom. I heard your bow hit the ground so it shouldn't be too far."

"Hurry," I replied, feeling myself slowly slipping.

By the way the strain became slightly more tolerable, I knew that Vision had left go to fly down.

"How's everyone feeling right now?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the tension my arms and shoulders were experiencing. "Energy levels?"

"At a highly moderate level," Alexis said.

"Still in the green," Victor said.

"I am also in the green," Monica said. "What about you, Rose?"

"Decent, for now," I replied.

"Victor, let go!" Vision called. "I'll catch you!"

"Talk about a leap of faith," Victor said before he let go of Alexis, dropping down to wherever Vision was.

"How come you two combined weight about as much as Victor?" I remarked to Alexis and Monica, trying to use the humor to help me cope.

Before they could reply, Vision called for Alexis to drop.

"See you down there," Alexis said before she let go.

"Monica, if you can climb up and at least get to my waist, I can get us down," I said, my arms shaking now, making it harder for me to keep a good hold.

Monica, who had been able to keep a hold on my ankle, shook her head. "If I let go, even if one hand, I'm scared I'll fall," she replied.

"Monica!" Vision called. "Your turn!"

"Vision will catch you," I said encouragingly. "Trust him."

After a moment, Monica released my ankle and she fell with an alarmed cry.

I tried to pull myself up after she was gone but the moment I tried to pull my body up, my hands decided to lose my grip entirely and I started to fall, screaming as I fell…

Right into Vision's arms.

"I've got you," he said as he set me down on solid ground.

I took a deep breath as I shook out my arms, not feeling exhausted but knowing that I had to give them a break because of how much they were shaking.

"How are you feeling?" Alexis said, seeing how bad my arms were.

"I'll be fine," I said. "Just give me a minute or two if we can spare it."

"Of course," Vision said. "Tell us when you're ready."

I nodded, taking another deep breath. "How does my bow look?" I asked as I leaned back against the wall.

"It probably needs a new paint job but it appears to look fine besides that," Victor said, offering it to me.

"I'll look at it in a moment," I said.

"Do you need to use your solar pack?" Monica offered.

I shook my head. "No, it's not that kind of exhaustion," I said. "It's exhaustion from my muscles, the tension from it. It'll be fine after a little bit."

When my arms felt relatively better, I took my bow from Victor and examined it, testing the draw strength and making sure it wouldn't snap under the pressure. "It's good," I said. I looked up at the others and frowned. "Everyone, energy levels."

"The past few minutes have caused it to drop drastically," Victor said.

"I could probably last a few minutes in a fight," Alexis said.

"I might be able to help," Monica added.

"I've had worse, but I definitely don't like my current state," Vision replied.

"Turn on your solar pack," I ordered. "I have a feeling we'll be in a fight soon."

The others nodded as they did that, looking better than before, but not by a lot.

"Hank Pym's energy signals nearby," JARVIS reported.

"Thank you, JARVIS," I said. "Everyone, let's go."

With nods again, we continued walking until we reached where a few guards were surrounding a cell made of stone, Hank in there, looking pretty bored.

Vision looked over at me and nodded, me returning the nod. I turned into a bat and after he placed Hank's communicator in my feet, I flew up, staying close to the ceiling as I neared the cell. I dropped the communicator in Hank's cell, making sure he grabbed it.

A small smile appeared on Hank's face as he realized what it was and looked up at me, doing a small nod to mean that he knew we were here before putting it in his ear.

I dived down in front of the cell and turned back to normal, going to the closest guard and doing a knife hand strike to his temple to knock him out, catching him and gently placing him on the ground. As the other two spun to their companion, I turned into cave spider and crawled out of view.

When they came to check on him, I scurried behind them and turned back to normal, blasting both of them with a plasma ball and then going to open Hank's cell.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show," Hank remarked as he walked out.

"We had to do some careful planning," I said. "Come on, before they see that you're gone."

Hank nodded and I brought him out to the others.

"The solar packs are already drained," Victor said.

"Take mine," I said as I took it off. Before they could protest, I added, "This isn't up for debate. Split it between all of you. I can still fight. Besides, we have that ledge we need to get up."

In reality, I was beginning to feel exhausted but I had made a promise to myself and I wasn't about to break it.

They divided the energy between the four of them as we darted back the way we came.

"Vision," I said as we ran. "I'm going to lift Hank up there. You bring Victor. After we get them up there, we'll come back down for Monica and Alexis."

"I have enough energy for that," Vision replied.

As we got close to the ledge, all I told Hank was to hang on before I scooped him up into my arms and flew up to where we were, Vision next to me with Victor.

When we got them up, we both heard the sound of Alexis' electric powers being used.

"Change of plans," I said as we both bolted down. "Get Monica up there, I'll distract them while you come back for Alexis."

"Rose, you're using a lot of energy," Vision said. "Are you sure about that?"

"Do you trust me?" I replied.

"With my life," Vision answered.

"Then trust me with this," I said. Without a response, I flew down in front of Alexis as she stopped the electricity and sent a wave of energy flying out at the enemies as they tried to advance on us, sending all of them falling back.

When they returned fire, I grabbed the edge of my cape and pulled Alexis behind me, the bullets rebounding off of the vibranium-infused fabric.

Vision came back down and got Alexis, letting me freeze time for a few seconds, just long enough so that all three of us could get out of the line of fire.

"Now we just have to get by that trap and then we're home free, right?" Monica said once we were all together again.

"Yea," Vision said. "Rose, an arrow?"

I nodded, starting to really feel exhausted but hiding it from the others as I got an arrow ready to shoot. "Remember, one minute," I said. "As soon as it ends, run like there's no tomorrow." After they all said their confirmations, I released the arrow, the fire destroying it like before.

Once the fire was gone, Vision lead the others up the tunnel, me bringing up the rear again.

"We're near the entrance!" Victor exclaimed. "I can feel it!"

"Don't stop!" I cried. "We'll rest when we're on the quinjet returning to the base!"

"We're definitely not stopping now!" Vision said. "It's not too long now!"

The fresh air was a welcomed relief once we made it to the open air.

"Oh man, that feels great," Monica remarked, a smile on her face.

I turned as I heard voices coming from the tunnels behind us. "Guys, don't celebrate yet," I warned. "Get us into the air!"

We bolted onto the quinjet and as soon as we were seated, Vision brought the thing into the air.

"They're opening fire," Alexis said as she looked at the radar.

"Return fire, one round," I said. "That'll teach them for taking one of our members."

Alexis nodded as she returned fire on the men down below before Vision got us out of there.

"JARVIS, set to autopilot," Vision said.

"Autopilot set," JARVIS answered. "Destination: Avengers Base."

Vision let go of the controls and turned to look at us. "How's everyone's power levels right now?" he asked.

"I think I'm going to need to sleep again tonight," Victor remarked.

"I'm pretty sure that's all of us, Victor," I replied, feeling completely exhausted and ready to knockout at any moment but still forcing myself to look fine.

"We'll debrief in the morning," Vision said. "As soon as we're back in the base, I want everyone to go to their rooms to rest."

Of course, there were no protests.

That night, after I made sure that Hank wasn't hurt in any way, I definitely slept well, and I was also proud of myself for having completed the entire mission without the solar packs, considering the others probably wouldn't have been able to complete it without me giving them my extra energy.

I may not be completely robotic, but I was still a force to be reckoned with as an Avenger AI.


End file.
